Agenda - 06-21-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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27 1 Chair Price said she was also interested in seeing food on the table and when she was 2 contacted by the co-chairs of the fresh buyers, that their data is about getting farmers in touch 3 with consumers so they can get the food on the table that people actually want rather than just 4 handing people a bag of food. She said that data will help them go from a philosophy to more of 5 practical measures. 6 Ashley Heger said this would include costs so they would get feedback from the buyers 7 and the sellers of if this makes economic sense. She said the question that could be answered 8 is can someone grow lettuce in Orange County, then sell it to Weaver Street Market, and that be 9 an affordable and accessible good in that space. 10 Commissioner McKee said the farmers do not need that. He said they are educated and 11 capable of figuring out their own numbers. He said that he is not intending to hound her over 12 this and that he does not mean to. He said that whatever the county does for food access, they 13 need to be dealing with food access. He said he does not understand how this organization 14 helps the farmers and those who have a lack of nourishing food. He said he sees that work is 15 being done, but he does not understand how this is better than a facility that would collect 16 aggregated product. He said that there is no way a small farmer in Orange County can supply 17 the theoretical one hundred boxes of lettuce on their own. 18 Ashely Heger said there is an issue with aggregation. 19 Commissioner McKee said he thinks there is a regional collection facility in Durham 20 County. He said he does not know how the logistics of putting UNC Hospitals in touch with local 21 farmers is going to work and that it can be guaranteed. He said he thinks the effort does not 22 seem to help the farmer make contact with the people that they need to sell to. He said when he 23 was a farmer, he would have to do the legwork to convince them that they needed to buy from 24 him. He said that help would be fine, but have they not been dealing with this for 5 or 6 years. 25 Ashley Heger said they have only been dealing with her since 2019. 26 Commissioner McKee said they are still at the 30,000-foot level. 27 Ashley Heger said that Cooperative Extension, the Ag Preservation Board, and 28 Economic Development that could be grappling with the larger issues he is talking about. She 29 said that her job as coordinator is to examine those that have been most impacted by the 30 systemic racism in our food system and how does she work with them to provide a bridge into 31 this institution while also building out the capacity of the institution. She said coming back to the 32 idea of moving at the urgency of those most impacted, she feels that it should not be her 33 deciding what farmers feel is and is not urgent. She said that the design of this particular pilot 34 program is to work with a very small group of growers to understand the impacts of them getting 35 the kind of support that Commissioner McKee is talking about and to identify the gaps. She said 36 some the already anecdotally know. She said that most farmers cannot afford a $30,000 37 refrigerated truck and there is no aggregation center in the county. She said that the 38 aggregation center in Durham will only take GAP certified products and there is only one GAP 39 Certified farmer in the county. She said that a number of farmers interviewed for pilots are 40 already doing this work together. She said there is one farm that has already helped incubate 41 two additional farms and they also have a contract with Weaver Street Market to grow and sell 42 celery. She said that instead of taking a $100 thousand plus contract for himself, he split it 43 between him and two other farms. She said that farmers, as Commissioner McKee knows 44 firsthand, know it takes a community, a network and that they are very wise and very 45 experienced. She said that it is not her directing people what to do, but rather asking for input 46 from farmers about what is working well and what supports they need. She said that the pilot 47 project will allow farmers to benchmark and lead the direction to say what is and is not working. 48 She said they will have regular meetings with the cohort and the data from Fresh Buyer to 49 inform the work. She said she hears Commissioner McKee's frustration, does not take it 50 personally, and knows there are always more farmers to reach.